1882 Notes Chapter IV

Chapter IV.

Manor of Souldern.*

About 1066 (William the Conqueror) ― de Sai, whose name appears on
the roll of Battle Abbey, seems to have obtained a grant of the Manor
of Sulethorm. In 1261 (Henry III., 1216―1272) or much earlier Philip
Bassett† sold the said Manor to Ralph de Bray, for 40 marks of silver
(See Skelton's Antiquities of Oxfordshire, Ploughley Hundred,
p. 7). In the reign of Edward I. (1272 –1306). “Thomas de Lewknore‡
holds the Manor of Sulthorne, of Thomas de Arderne, by the service of
£1 yearly, and the said Thomas holds, from the heirs of de Say, and it
is a Manor free in itself, and has a view of frank pledges; from the
first conquest of England, and the bailiffs of our lord the king have
no entrance unless by briefs of our lord the king. And it is an
ancient warren from the first conquest of England. And the vicar of
Oxford has 4s. yearly from the time of John de Tywe, formerly vicar of
Oxford, who levied these 4s. unjustly. And it has a highway from the
conquest aforesaid. And he holds in his lordship three currucates‖ of
land, and the meadow and pasture adjoining. And he has there a free
fishery from the head of his meadow of Goldenham as far as the meadow
of Fretewelle. And the said lord of Sulthorne, if he wished, or his
attorney, shall come to the two great Hundred Courts (?) yearly from
Sulthorne. And by this they shall be free and at liberty to withdraw
without amercement or fine. And this freedom has been in use from the
aforesaid conquest.” (See
Cal. Rolls of Ed. II.) It appears from the “Inuisitiones” of
Ed. I., II., and III., that Thomas e Abbresbury, William de Tyngewyk,
John de Abberbury, and Richard de Abberbury, were freeholders in this
parish. They probably held by knights service for the Prior of
Donyngton. In 1357, in a patent of the 31st Ed. III, there occurs the
following notice – “About the Hamlet of Foresmere, belonging to Roger
de Cottesford, and about the enclosed road between Cottesford and
Sulthorn, and about a licence to enclose the said hamlet.” In the
reign of Richard II. (1377–1399) Richard de Abberbury held lands in
Sulthorn. In the “Inquisitiones” of Henry VI. (1422–61) “William,
Duke of Suffolk, held in the county of Oxford, land in Thorp,
Cudlynton, Sulthorne, and Hannewell, in the Honour of Wallingford.”
From Napier's “History of Swincombe and Ewelme’ (1858) we find that
after the murder of the said Duke, Alice, his widow (grand­daughter of
Geoffrey Chaucer) was seized of the said lands. After this date we
can discover nothing more about the manor until the reign of Elizabeth
(1558–1603). and there is the following notice in White Kennett—“Sir
Hugh Throckmorton instituted Lawrance Giles to the living of
Sulthorne,” and elsewhere—“The Right Honble. H. Compton, Sir John
Arundel, John Dormer, and Paul Tracy were seized of the Manor of
Souldren, anciently Sulthorne, in the right of their wives.” About
the beginning of the reign of James I, (1603–26) the above-mentioned
persons parted with the manor to the Weedon family (see copy deed in the
possession of Mr. Crook). Souldern appears to have escaped injury
during the great civil war and we can only find the place mentioned
twice in any local history of that period. First there is “an order for
carts to Oxord for the king, from Fritwell and Soulderne”
(counter­manded), and secondly the minister of Soulderne joined with
others in the neighbour­hood in petitioning Parliament to spare
Charles I. (see Beesley’s “History of Banbury”). During the
Commonwealth (1649-60) “At the court leet held at Soulderne (1652)
at the Manor House of John Weedon, John Dodwell is chosen constable
in the
place of Robert Bigmell.” Among the jurors for the keepers of the
liberties of England, by authority of Parliament and also for the
above-named lord of the said manor are named John Dodwell (the
younger), Thomas Dodwell, John Dodwell, William Dodwell, and
Ferdinando Gough. In another documeut, (of the reign of William
III., 1689-1702) it appears that Thomas Dodwell sold a messuage house
somewhere about the year 1693. John Weedom died in 1710, and left his
manor and estate to Samuel Cox (then a child), the eldest son of
Samuel Cox and Alicia Kilby, his wife, subject to the payment of
annuities to his brothers William and Thoulas, his uncle Bernard, his
sister Mary, and his brother-in-law Charles Howes. The house and
furniture he left to his widow. The will was proved 9th July,
1712. Samuel Cox, executor. There is, or ought to be, a sketch of the
old Manor House of the Weedons, in a deed in the church chest. It
stood in a field (close to the church) now the property of
Mr. J. R. Crook. For the following description of Souldern House, and
the Roman Catholic chapel appertaining thereto, we are indebted to
George Dolinan, Esq: “The present Manor House, the property of
Col. Cox, stands at the western extremity of the village, on the brow
of the hill commanding an extensive view of the Cherwell walley,
which stretches for many miles north and south, with the massive
tower of Deddington Church rising boldly in the central landscape. A
group of lofty elms forum a conspicuous landmark, and some forty or
fifty years ago these were part of a stately avenue up to the
house. The precise age of the house itself appears to be unknown, but
some clue is afforded by the figure 1665, cut into the stonework of
the window of a room known as the “old vestry.” It is, however,
certain that before the close of the 17th century it was in the
possession of Richard Kilby, Esq., who had married as his second wife
Alice Reynolds, a lady of an old Catholic family, seated at
Cassington. Besides a son Robert, he had by this wife three
daughters, Alice, Mary, and Jane, of whom the first-men­tioned
became the wife of Samuel Cox, Esq., of
Farmingham Lodge, Kent. Richard Kilby died 11th September, 1693, in
the 84th year of his age, and was buried in the church of Souldern. In
his will, after disposing of his other property and effects, he
bequeaths as heirlooms to his son, his two pots or vases, which now
stand on the lawn in front of the house, and the stone table, of which
there is no trace. (Since writing the above this stone table has
(1881) been discovered and reclaimed by Mr. Stanton, and stands near
the companion pots and vases.) The said Richard Kilby was succeeded by
his only son Robert, who married his cousin, Alicia Kilby, but had no
issue. He died 12th March, 1757, and was also interred in the Parish
Church. By his will his estates were left to his nephew Samuel, eldest
son of Samuel Cox, of Farningham. This Samuel Cox, who never married,
made Souldern House his residence from this time up to his death in
1781. He died at a good old age and was buried in the church. His
nephew, Robert Kilby Cox, oldest son of Gabriel Cox, Esq., of
Highgate, succeeded him in the manor, and during his life many
changes were made in the house. The old mullioned windows were
replaced by sash windows of the modern fashion, and a cupola which
formerly stood above the western entrance was renoved. As neither he
nor his son lived permanently at Souldern, the house was let to
various tenants, who succeeded each other, as far as we can ascertain,
in the following order:—

VI.—John Hill, Esq., father of the
present Mr.
Hill, of Souldern. He lived at the Manor House from 1830 till his
death, in May, 1835.

VII.—Mr. John Scott, brother-in-law of the late
Mr. Hurlstone, occupied the house until 1846.

In Aug., 1851, the
present owner, Col. Cox, succeeded to the estate, on the death of his
cousin, Samuel Cox, Esq., of Broxwood, and, in June of the follow­ing
year, his brother in-law, the late John Thomas Dolman, Esq., M.D., of
Pocklington, Yorkshire, came to reside at Souldern. He had married,
1835, Anne Helen, fourth daughter of the late Samuel Cox, Esq., M.D.,
of Eaton Bishop, Hertfordshire. Dr. Dolman died in 1867, and his
son-in-law, the Honble. Bryan Stapleton, lived here from 1868 until
1877, when he left and was succeeded by Frederick Stanton, Esq.

* The greater part of the early history of the manor is extracted
from White Kennett's Parochial Antiquities

† For further particulars
of the Bassett family, see pedigrees.

‡: It appears that Thomas de
Lewknore married Lucie, heiress of Thomas de Arderne, who inherited
from the de Says, She is said to “hold the whole township of Suthorn,
in frank marriage.”

§ “Frank pledge.” A pledge for the good conduct
of freemen, should a crime he committed in a tything the “head
borough” had to answer for the production of the criminal. In towns
this system was worked by guilds.

‖ A carucate is as much land as one
plough with its beasts would cultivate in a year, and was the Norman
measure, with a view to assessment.

Roman Catholic Chapel.

It is an interesting matter for speculation whether the practice of
the ancient Catholic faith has ever quite died out in Souldern. The
materials for such an enquiry are, however, very incomplete, as the
earliest information is obtained from the parish register, which
commences 1567. A clue to the number of Roman Catholics in the village
in those days is assorded by the frequent occurrence of the formula,
“Secundum rituo Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ” in the list of burials. These
worls clearly imply that the persons whose names are thus
distinguished were, owing to the peculiar circumstances of the time,
buried according to the rites of the Church of England, although in
life they had not been mem­bers of that church. And if it were still
doubtful to which religious communion they belonged, the occasional
addition of the word papista effectually removes any hesitation. Among
the names of Souldern Roman Catholics at that period those of Weedon
and Kilby occupy a prominent place, and presumably of a humbler class
appear the Ansteys, Horns, and Lessingtons, names which have now
disappeared entirely from the roll of Souldern parishioners. From
these facts it is clear that about the middle of the 17th century, a
certain number of Catholic families were living in the village, and
not­with&sh;stand­ing the penal laws to the contrary, heard mass celebrated
in one or more
private houses. Whether a domestic chapel existed in the Manor House
of the Weedons before referred to, is not known, but there is no doubt
that in the present house a chapel was in constant use from an early
period, and this interesting relic of an ancient time, remained in its
primitive con­dition until a very recent date. The old chapel at
Souldern was merely a room in the upper part of the house, measuring
about 30ft. in length. A portion of this room (about a third of the
whole) was divided from the rest of the apartment by a wooden screen,
and the part thus separated formed the sanctuary. An altar and
communion railings, also of wood completed the furniture, and a door
on the N.W. corner led into an adjoin­ing room, which served as a
vestry. This apartment con­tinued to be used until 1781, when, on the
death of Mr. Samuel Cox, it was permanently closed, and the vessels
and vestments removed to a place of safety. Before quitting this
portion of the subject, it should be mentioned that in 1877 a
secret chamber, probably a priest's hiding hole, was dis­covered, which
formed a com­munica­tion between the chapel and the room below. It was
fastened on the inside by means of a sliding bolt. It does not appear
that any regular chaplain lived at Souldern from the Reform­ation till
the last-mentioned date. Probably the mission was served by the priest
who resided at Tusmore, where, in the house of the Fermors, there was also a
domestic chapel, which existed up to 1810. When that was closed
another was opened at the old Manor House at Hardwick, and the
Rev. Alfred Maguire collected funds with which he built the present
church of the Holy Trinity, Hethe. When Dr. Dolinan came to Souldern
in 1852, it was de­cided that a chapel should be opened in the village,
the old room having fallen into a state of complete decay. An
apartment situated in the south wing of the house was therefore set
apart for the purpose. The old vestments being much worn, and besides
of an obsolete pattern, a new set was obtained in close accordance
with medieval design, and the furniture for the altar was also
provided. In the summer of 1869 Mrs. Dulman conceived the design of
building
a small chapel to the memory of her husband. The foundations were
laid in the grounds and the work was completed in 1870. On the 2nd
February this building was opened by the Very Rev. Canon O'Sullivan,
Vicar General of the Diocese, and placed under the patronage of
St. Joseph. The new chapel, though unpretending, is quite
ecclesiastical in its main features, and the open timber roof and
plain lancet windows have a pleasing effect. There is a representation
in stained glass above the altar, of our LORD'S resurrection. The
altar rails are those belonging to the original chapel. The priests
connected with Souldern House are as follows:—

The Rev. Samuel Corbishley

Rev Alfred Maguire

Rev. Joseph Robson

Rev. Hugh McCarten

Rev. Fred. Morris

Rev. Samuel Glossop

A well built school has been
erected close to the chapel, upon a site given by Col. Cox, and there
is a resident school mistress.